Aloha Dump

Climate change is such a hot topic right now, no pun intended, and I have spent a long time sifting through both sides. The war between the deniers, the skeptics, the consensus and the alarmists is all based on evidence from both sides and both sides make compelling arguments. But that's not what I want to talk about since, at this point, you aren't going to sway either side. I recently found out where icebergs come from and why it is such a big deal.  Climate change protagonists claim rising temperatures will melt the icebergs which will then cause sea levels to rise. My initial thoughts have been, "Huh?" If you take a glass and put an ice cube in it then fill it to the rim the melting ice will not cause the water to spill over. I used this analogous image to simulate the icebergs in the arctic and antarctic. They are already in the water, how will their melting cause the oceans to rise? I was browsing the Huffington Post las...

Today is a time of remembrance when we pause, and in our own way, pay our respects to the men and women who have fought for this country, some even giving the  ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. For some Americans ('some' being a conservative number) it is just another few-and-far-between three day weekend to get drunk, sleep and have an unexpected Valentine's Day baby while most consider today the official kick off of summer. I can count on one hand the number of duty free Memorial Day weekends I had  in my 20 years of service- par for the course for most submariners and something most of us came to grips with very quickly. For most military members family separation is the highest sacrifice they will make or endure. For a growing number of military families over the last 10 years the separation anxiety is compounded by the fear of combat injury or death as our fighting force is spread thin around the world fighting what many also fear as wars we cannot win. I...

It appears that I have the only still photos of Mike Alessi's spill at Hangtown last weekend that left him KTFO for a few minutes. I missed the shot of him actually hitting as there was a sponsor sign in the way. But I also have the first shots of him lying on the ground with the first responders on the scene. Ha! Suck it pro MX photographers! 1. First pass 2. Airborne. First sign of "Oh shit, not again" feeling. 3. KTFO The video replay:

Yes, it literally did. JR Hildebrand, 23 year old rookie from California, was poised to win the Indy 500 with just one lap to go and a good lead. Then, on the final corner of the final lap with the checker flag in sight, he effed it up in one of the most head shaking and unbelievable flubs as he crashed his National Guard sponsored car into the wall. That was all the time Dan Wheldon needed to zoom past Hildebrand and secure his second Indie 500 victory. Bummer, dude. The whole ordeal reminded of this speed skating ass clown that lost by a hair, not because he lost his balance or fell at th e finish line- this is much worse, but oh so delicious: Speed Skater Loses In the Indie 500 "Who Gives a Shit News", Danica Patrick came in 10th place and might reconsider joining the NASCAR circuits since she sucks so bad at Formula 1.

May 21, at around 6 pm local time, was the predicted and calculated day of judgement by Harold Camping . I have friends in Australia, where it is well past 6 pm, and they are fine. No earthquakes, no bodies rising from their graves, no Rapture. Bummer, Harold. Disturbing that a site dedicated to saving people's souls and preaching the end wouldn't update its doomsday timer for 8 days previous to the event. There were a lot of these rolling billboards and there was even a static billboard on the highway close to where I live. I wonder how long it will stay up. I started listening to Camping on Family Radio on my way home from work about 5 weeks ago. I had just bought a used car and was tuning the radio stations on the AM side looking for some political talk shows when I stopped to listen to a segment where a caller was asking for verification for the date of Judgement Day. I am always interested in the predictions of Judgement since the Bible says  No one knows abo...

I enjoy reading The Huffington Post (HP) online and I am fully aware of their left leaning agenda. To be fair, and not present myself as a hard core conservative who will not listen to the viewpoints of others, there are some very good writers for HP who shed perspective on issues I may have already have an entrenched viewpoint who will cause me to step back and rethink my position. The reader comments, however, do not.  I have never read more vitriol and hate from some of the most ignorant and reason depraved people than I have on the HP online- from both sides of center. I wanted to share an example of discourse from a recent Huffington Post headline  Obama Birth Certificate Released  where I decided to use reason, civility and facts instead of my usual posts consisting of snide, irreverent and sarcastic comments. I have tried former strategy in the past on similar message boards but was met with a barrage of name calling, ad hominem attacks and unhing...

Whenever I see a new site that attempts to define my political philosophy by asking 10 questions I just have to take the quiz. They all end the same- lumping me into the Republican category. Regardless of how "in-depth" the quizzes claim to be, however, they all suck. They suck because they do not take into account the people who do not have a yes or no position. I think many people do not really care one way or the other about a great many things. I do not care if gay marriage becomes legalized or not and there is not a political party for that. The quizzes strong-arm the quiz taker into a yes or no position with no grey area to spare. I find the same narrowing viewpoint with questions about US military action- if you support the military then you are auto-lumped into the group that thinks we are supposed to be International Meter Maids preemptively taking out any crazed dictator who claims to hate the United States. Smaller entities who ...

I was in the military when the first shutdown of my lifetime happened in November of 1995. The shutdown happened the day before payday and many civilians struggled for a week while both sides bickered about which items they would negotiate with as little backlash for future votes as possible.  The second shutdown happened in December of that same year and lasted almost a month. Needless to say, a lot of people suffered- but not the military! We were paid although I really wanted to see if the loudmouths in my division were really going to refuse to show up to work if we were not going to receive pay. I tried to remind them that we are not an autonomous organization and if we were asked to work without pay while pulling weeds naked with jockstraps on our heads then that is what we would have to do.  Clinton was President and the GOP controlled both the House and the Senate, which is probably why the military continued...

The people of the Middle East are fed up. All it took was a spark in Tunisia late last year to ignite a massive revolution a few months ago in Egypt . Now, the Libyans are fed up and realize that massing together to fight a tyrant is not such a bad idea. What amazes me is the hurried involvement of the United States and its Allies joining together to help the citizens of Libya. It didn't take the world community to impose sanctions against Ghaddafi and his family after forces loyal to the dictator banded together to fight the opposition. In less than one month of watching the conflict grow, the UN endorsed military action against Ghaddafi. One month. Two days later French jets bombed military targets along with Great Britain and the United States. For crying out loud, France took the initiative and bombed Libyan military targets- FRANCE? These are the same guys that bailed on us in 2007, shortly followed by the rest of our allies in Iraq. Roll the clock back a decad...

Stop buying iodide pills and geiger counters because a nucular (sic) reactor 5000+ miles away (from San Francisco)  could have a meltdown. You are being stupid, ignorant and selfish. People in Japan need those pills more than you do. "But, Knave, you never know what could happen and it is better to be safe than sorry." Wrong- it is better to be informed than stupid. This is the reality of people within very close proximity to a reactor that could have a meltdown: This is moronic hysteria . I hope to God she isn't going to give those pills to her baby otherwise obeseity from an enlarged thyroid will be the least of its problems. Reckless, hysterical and unfounded- and i am talking aobut our Surgeon General who is promoting this type of behavior- he should be horsewhipped and fired. Don't get me started on the spike in geiger counter sales nationwide. Yes, nationwide- not the few kooks that ran for the hills when Y2K looked over us on 12/...

Time Saving Truth from Falsehood  and Envy ,  François Lemoyne , 1737   The fashionable trend of hating religion (specifically, Christianity) is almost as annoying as the Hollywood elite hating America. Atheists: Either get some new material or outsource your issue with religion to someone who can. Case in point, the atheist who used the truism "God helps those who helps themselves" to convince me religion is false since there are the poor, the unfortunate and the downtrodden in the world. God didn't help these people. First of all, truisms aren't always true either by their nature or by the misinterpretation they are based on, like the atheist above. I especially like the definition: A  truism  is a claim that is so obvious or  self-evident  as to be hardly worth mentioning, except as a reminder or as a  rhetorical  or literary device. - Money can't buy happiness. - Getting there is half the fun. - It is what it is. (this one i...

We are just barely into February and already some local news has started to make way for a very long year. On top of a  year old boy who was kidnapped by his mother's ex-boyfriend last week (and later found dead in a canal), a Placerville, CA principal was shot to death last week by the school janitor. That last statement sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Besides the tragedy of someone being shot to death, especially since the victim is a school principal who has the thankless job of trying to run a learning institution full of the next generation's irreverent and entitled youth, there are several issues I have with this story- not the journalism itself but rather with the content. Ok, I have one issue with the headline, "Janitor says not guilty in Calif. principal murder" should be changed to "F-ing idiot janitor, John Leubbers, who shot a principal 2 days ago is taking the advice of his sleazy lawyer and pleading 'not guilty'. Bwahahahaha!...